Nixon

A last-minute bankruptcy filing has saved Nixon's Farm, a Howard County landmark known for social and political gatherings, from a foreclosure auction originally scheduled for today. The Chapter 11 filing in U.S. District Court on Tuesday will allow Randall Nixon to continue operating the 128-acre West Friendship farm his family has owned since 1956, said James A. Vidmar, the Annapolis lawyer representing Nixon and his mother, Mildred. "This just gives us breathing room to get some plan in place to protect this valuable property," Vidmar said.

BERNARD L. BARKER, 92 Watergate burglar Bernard Leon Barker, one of the five Watergate burglars whose break-in led to America's biggest political scandal, died Friday in suburban Miami. The Cuban-born former CIA operative, who also participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion, died at his home after being taken to the Veterans Administration Medical Center the night before, said his stepdaughter, Kelly Andrad. He appeared to have died of complications of lung cancer, and he had also suffered from heart problems.

WASHINGTON - -Albert P. Toner, a White House aide in two Republican administrations nearly 20 years apart, died of congestive heart failure May 21 at his home in Brunswick, Maine. He was 91. Toner prepared the daily information report for President Dwight D. Eisenhower on problems and activities submitted by government agencies and the White House staff. He returned for his second White House tour during the Nixon administration to do essentially the same job. Albert Plummer Toner was born in Lewiston, Maine, and graduated from the University of Maine in 1939.

On April 26, 2009, MARGARET ANN NIXON. On today, a public viewing will be held at Edmondson Heights Seven Day Adventist, 810 Walnut Avenue at 3 P.M. On Wednesday, Mrs. Nixon will lie in state at the church, where the family will receive friends from 11 A.M to 12 P.M with services to follow. Inquiries to (410) 233-2400.

With the postponement of a foreclosure auction, the family that owns Nixon's Farm, a longtime Howard County landmark known for weddings, reunions and political events, is struggling to stave off creditors while restructuring development plans stymied by the recession. Court files show three foreclosure cases brought against the Nixon family for loans obtained since 2002. But operator Randy Nixon said Friday that he expects to prevent a foreclosure sale and that the residential development project will proceed.

THEATER 'Souvenir': Center Stage takes on the tale of a wealthy, but tone deaf, socialite who's desperate to be a singing sensation. No, we'll still have to wait for Paris Hilton: The Musical, but in the meantime we get the strange-but-true tale of Florence Foster Jenkins, who, despite being a horrible vocalist, sold out Carnegie Hall. Previews start at 8 p.m. Friday. More: centerstage.org FILM 'The Soloist' : Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx roll out a cinematic Christmas in April - an "important" film (i.e.

Willie Nixon Turner There will be a public viewing Saturday, April 18, 2009 3 P.M. to 5 P.M. at Reese & Sons Mortuary, 821 West Street, Annapolis, MD. Final Services will be Monday, April 20, 2009 10:30 A.M. at New Bethlehem Free Will Baptist Church, 1400 North Eden Street, Baltimore, Maryland.

CLAUDE BRINEGAR, 82 Transportation secretary under Nixon Claude Brinegar, who led an overhaul of the railroad industry and saw the nation through the oil crisis of 1973 as the third U.S. transportation secretary, died Friday of natural causes in Palo Alto, Calif. President Richard M. Nixon nominated Mr. Brinegar to head the Department of Transportation in late 1972. At the time, Mr. Brinegar was a senior vice president at Union Oil Co., where he had worked since 1953. During his tenure as secretary, Mr. Brinegar led efforts to overhaul the collapsed Northeastern railroad industry, ultimately resulting in the creation of Conrail Inc. He served as a founding director of Conrail from 1974 to 1975 and joined the board again from 1990 to 1998.

Capsules by Michael Sragow unless noted. Full reviews are at baltimoresun.com/movies. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: **** It starts in 1918, when Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) is born with an old face, dilapidated plumbing and wrinkled skin over an infant body, and ends in 2005, when his true love, Daisy (Cate Blanchett), completes the telling of his story. The movie's emotional completeness leaves you poised between sobbing and applauding - it comes from a full comprehension not just of one man's life, but of the intersection of many lives over the course of the 20th century.